Jace groans throughout the trip.

Once we're in the cottage, I insist that Wolf place him in my bedroom, on my mattress, but he shakes his head. Instead, he drops him on the mat by the wall of his room, eliciting a soft cry from Jace.

I shoot him a look.

“It’s comfortable,” he assures me. “That’s where I sleep."

“Not everyone is like you,” I say, and pat his shoulder so he'll let me down Once he does, I bend to touch Jace's forehead. There's a sheen of sweat there, and a notable increase in temperature.

"He’s burning up.”

Wolf doesn't seem surprised or concerned with the statement.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“He touched something he wasn’t supposed to," Wolf answers. “This is his punishment.”

Once again, I wonder how Wolf knows these things but I also know there's no point in asking him.

“Is it going to kill him?"

“No. It will only make him uncomfortable. For the next few hours, he’s going to be in pain.” As though to confirm his statement, Jace groans and coils his body up into a ball, teeth chattering.

I'm touched by pity.

“Is there anything you can do for the pain?” I ask Wolf.

Wolf seems to consider it, and then a look of disgust enters his face. “No."

I turn back to Jace, checking his temperature again.

"He’ll be fine in the morning," Wolf says. "But he’s better off on the floor than the mattress. It’s cooler there.”

That makes sense but I still felt guilty about leaving him alone. Wolf doesn't give me much of a choice though, picking me up in his arms again.

“I can walk Wolf," I commented drily.

"You need to rest too," he says firmly. He lays me in bed and then searches in his mother's closet, drawing out blankets to cover my body. He makes sure not a single inch is uncovered. Then he pauses and pats my head awkwardly like I'm a dog.

I snort and Wolf blushes.

“Good night,” he says and turns to walk away.

“Wait,” I say. He shifts his head to glance at me, a question in his eyes.

I pat the mattress beside me. “Come lie with me.”

His expression is comical. His entire body draws tight like a string and his eyebrows disappear into his hairline.

I giggle

"No... not today.” He stammers in a rushed breath as if he has to get the words out before he goes against his own better judgment. “I’m not stable enough today.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He walks stiffly through the door and closes it with a quiet click.

Still amused, I shake my head and settle back on the bed, finally allowing myself to digest everything that happened today.

What a day. What a night.

It feels like an entire lifetime was rolled into this one day, from beginning to end. I mentally note everything I learned about the forest tonight, filing it down for later. First things first, there's a mage in the forest that can talk in my mind, a mage possibly controlling the forest. I wasn’t just imagining the voice in my head, otherwise the light would not have shown when it did. The mage spoke to me and it was very pissed I took the bird the first time, but it still allowed me access to another bird under the instruction that I don't touch anything and don't return.

Which is just fine because I plan on never going back to the Dark Forest ever again.

Although I do intend to keep my promise of setting the Shrewk I caught free. I just don't know how to manage it yet, now that the bird is in the hands of the King.

I sigh into the air. “One more thing I need to take care of.”

I move to the next train of thought: The creature that took us out of the forest, thereby saving us. I didn’t get a good enough look at it, but I felt its teeth, heard it growl and from its hindquarters, it was very large.

Yet, it did not hurt when it bit my shoulder. Or maybe it hurt for some time and then stopped. I pass my hand over the spot now. Not even a bruise. How on earth did that happen?

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Agh, I’m tired of thinking." I rub my hand over my face. It seems I've been doing nothing but thinking the whole day and it's giving me a headache.

Don't try to figure everything out at once, I tell myself, ammending Savannah's advice. Live to fight another day. Just make sure you know enough to stay ahead.

I take a deep breath and release again, smuggling under the covers as another cold wind rattles the window panes, and flutters the curtains. Despite the heavy fabric on my body, I still shiver.

Winter, and the Pangeans, will be coming soon.

***

The next day, I wake up later than usual if the sun is anything to go by. I groan as I rise from bed, working tired muscles that were strained both from my training and being dragged out of the forest yesterday.

Shuffling out of the room, I find Wolf on the dining table, drinking from a bowl of soup with three apples beside him.

I move past him to peek into his bedroom, where Jace is still fast asleep. His expression is slack now, no longer pained. He also has a large piece of cloth stuffed in his mouth.

I give Wolf a disapproving glance and, when he catches it, he shrugs.

“He kept groaning throughout the night," he says. “This was the only way to keep him quiet.”

“Still not nice,” I scold. I kneel beside Jace and gently press his jaw open so I can remove the cloth from his mouth. He releases it with a low moan.

“See," Wolf states and I roll my eyes. On the bright side, Jace's fever seems to have reduced significantly.

“How long till he regains consciousness?” I ask.

“Usually by the morning,“ Wolf says. “But this one seems like the stubborn type. He doesn’t wake not even when I do this.'

Wold tosses an apple and it smacks Jace in the face before rolling away. Jace groans again but doesn't stir.

But I glare at Wolf. “Stop that. Don't be an ass."

Wolf smirks but at least he puts down the second apple he was aiming at Jace.

Satisfied that Jace is safe from Wolf's antics for now, I head to the kitchen to make good on my promise to Wolf. I plan on making as many wine tarts as the man can stomach.

“Wolf," I say as I cook. “Did you see any large creature when you came to us?”

He shakes his head. “No. You were alone when I found you.”

“Odd.” I don't look at him when I ask this next part, “How did you find us though?”

A slurp of his soup before he answers. "Instinct."

I turn to him then. "Instinct?"

"Yes. Must you be the only one with secret instincts?"

"I suppose not,” I grumble, even though I don't like that Wolf is keeping secrets from me, it's fair considering I have quite a few secrets from him. And Wolf has a lot of secrets going by what Genya said.

Why can't I get this out of my mind? Why can't I just be mature and let this go?

Perhaps I just need to stop lying to myself and stop pretending like I'm ok with it. Maybe I just need to tell him how I feel to whatever end.

“When Genya…” I start but then find it too difficult to expose yet another vulnerability to him. One part of me is screaming that I'm insane and I'm about to potentially make things more awkward than they need to be.

The bigger part of me is telling me to reveal my feelings so I can finally move on from them and get over them.

I try a different approach, something in the middle of talking about it and not talking about it.

“How did you and Genya meet?” I ask. That was fine. Nonaccusatory, curious but also didn't expose the jealousy I feel.

Wolf takes a big piece of meat and chomps into it. “I saved her carriage.”

“Ah, so at least that part of the story was true.”

He nods and continues chewing on his meat.

"And?”

“And what?”

“Don’t you want to tell me the rest of the story?”

He glances at me out of the corner of his eyes. “I don’t know if I should.”

“Oh no, it’s fine,” I respond, my face burning. Can he tell I'm jealous? Is he trying to spare my feelings by not telling me the rest? “I don’t mind hearing about your...relationships. I can tell you all about my embarrassing history with Prince Caster if it will make you feel better.”

“It won’t," he says, with a stony look, and then adds. “I met her again when I was in town. I was getting something from my mother’s bakery and there she was. And again when I was on my way out to do a job. And again at the bakery. She was there at least once almost every day. Sometimes it felt like she was everywhere. Like she was spying on me."

“Oh,” I say. “So when did the two of you..get together?”

He raises an eyebrow.

”When were you lovers?” I ask plainly since he doesn't seem to get the hint.

He snorts, lays down the bowl, and shakes his head.

“We weren't lovers."

“But I thought–“

“It's not as you thought." He looks indistinctly uncomfortable with the conversation and his shoulders tense up slightly, jaws clenching.

“She wanted me. I wanted something she had. Information. She would only give it to me if I was intimate with her.”

I gape at him unable to believe what I'm hearing.

It can't be. He can't mean what I think he means.

"You had to sleep with her for the information?" I ask just to clarify. I half expect him to laugh in my face or make some quip about how he wanted to do it anyway.

But instead, he stares out the window and shrugs. "It was either that or beat the information out of her and contrary to popular belief, I'm not a barbarian."

“No, I didn't think you were it’s just....” I did not expect that to be the story. I was expecting something different, something compelling that would stoke my jealousy and my anger.

I didn't expect something that would rip my heart out until I bleed from him.

"I'm so sorry, Wolf." There's nothing else I can say. I don't even want to think about it because the thought of it makes me slightly sick to my stomach. And it's there, playing out in my mind, the scenario.

I hate that I made him relive this, just because I couldn't let go.

"I'm sorry,” I repeat and I feel like crying a little but I hold it together. I also feel a rage like nothing I’ve ever felt before directed towards that blue-eyed evil witch. “I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories."

“There are no memories,” Wolf says smoothly. “I'm lucky for that. My mind went somewhere else during the encounter. “

Because you were violated. Your mind went somewhere else to prevent it from splintering inside out.

I know the feeling first-hand.

But the fact that Wolf had gone through the same thing I had, and he didn't escape like I did... it made me sick.

He notices the look on my face, and says, “Don’t look at me like that."

“I’m not looking like you any differently," I say.

"Yes, you are," he says. "And I don't like it. I’m fine. I only remember leaving once she gave me the information and it helped greatly."

"I’m glad." I take a deep breath and get up. I want to hold him or do something but I know he wouldn't appreciate it. So I simply say,

"Let’s go spar."

If I can’t comfort him then at least I want to release all this tension by hitting something. And in that moment, I promise myself one thing. Even if I fail everything else, I must achieve one goal before I die again.

Genya will pay for what she did in blood.